Sam Querrey: My interview with the man of the moment


Early summer means Wimbledon when millions of us—our rackets long outdated, zipped into cases, stuffed into hall closets—tune back into the game of tennis. I used to love tennis, or the idea of it anyway. Tennis whites bringing out the brown on arms and legs, the players and their idiosynchratic grunts and groans. The 70's were the heyday of my tennis ardor, Breakfast at Wimbledon a yearly tradition. The romantic possibilities of Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors. Billy Jean King and Martina Navrátilová. The sex appeal of Ilya Nastase. Arthur Ashe followed by the long-haired Bjorn Borg looking like Peter Frampton. McEnroe and his anger management problems. Those were the days I played it too, poorly, the sweet spot of victory ever elusive. 

 Eventually I let it go, but still Wimbledon calls every year. The names familiar with year after year of victories, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, the Williams sisters, Novak Djokovic. This year the name on everyone's lips is the California tennis player Sam Querrey. Querrey who shocked the tennis world by knocking out Djokovic—the winner of this year's French Open—in the early rounds. Hearing the news I did a double take. 

 I interviewed Sam Querrey back in 2008 when he was living out in the exurbs of L.A. and I was writing freelance pieces monthly for the Westlake Village based 805 Living magazine.

 The interview was for a regular back page item called P.S. where I asked local celebs a few puff piece questions. Querrey had just turned pro and, no surprise here, it was clear from our conversation that his passion for the game exceeded anything else, although he did say if he could do anything he'd "be in an awesome rock band". 

 Querrey was particularly stoked over a game he'd played against James Blake, telling me his Most Memorable Day was playing 'James Blake—one of the top ten players in the world—on the center court at the Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells.' 

 Just a hunch but I'm thinking that Most Memorable Day has been lobbed into oblivion.
A bit more of the Q&A ...


 What would surprise people about you? 
I'm a whiz when I get a karaoke microphone in my hand. 

 Pet peeve? Right-handed people who wear their watch on their right hand and slow golfers.

 Book on your nightstand? The World is Flat (Thomas L. Friedman, The Winner's Mind (Allen Fox)

 Dream Day: Playing tennis in front of 50,000 people and loving it. Then afterward, go golfing or hang out at the beach with my friends.

 Congratulations Sam, it looks like your Dream Day has come true in aces! Except for the part about golfing or hanging out with friends at the beach later. But that's ok. I have a hunch that golf and the beach are the last things on your mind right at this moment, and that you'd put a whole new spin on that Most Memorable Day question.

 You're in the sweet spot! Enjoy it.

Popular posts from this blog

Bridget Jones Diary. On location in London. #BriFri

Image
I just found British Isles Friday post which I shared over on Chapter1-Take1.com  directly from London when my hubby and I visited in May. I'm not sure what happened, whether I lost my connection or just forgot to share it with my fellow Anglophiles following Joy Weese Moll's British Isles Friday meme. I'm making up for that now, adding some additional photos from Borough Market where Bridget Jones flat was actually above the Globe Tavern. No matter how we felt about the sequels, we all fell in love with Bridget in Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones Diary . Most of us saw a bit of ourselves in her, whether it was the overeating, over-imbibing misfit or the plucky lost girl who refused to give up, her honesty about her own flaws and foibles helped us laugh at ourselves. Rene Zellweger with her brave British accent channeled Bridget’s flirty spirit. Hidden under the arches of London Bridge at the Globe Tavern in Borough Market is the flat where Bridget lived. I...
Continue Reading »

Baker Street Station—Sherlock Holmes was there

Image
Baker Street Station The main thing my husband wanted to see in London was London ... as Sherlock Holmes saw it. So our first move, like any fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's creation was to take a double decker bus to Baker Street. As it turns out I read the map upside down or sideways or maybe it was backwards but we found ourselves in Putney at the bridge. Very much in the wrong direction. Over half an hour by car, which we didn't have. We wound up taking the tube back in the right direction which delivered us to the Baker Street Station. The station is one of the original stations opened when the Metropolitan Railway—the world's first underground railway—was built in 1863.  While we don't immediately think of Sherlock dashing out on the tube, he very well could have and in fact the rail, train etc is alluded to in several dozen Sherlock stories. The Baker Street station is situated on the very block where Sherlock lived at 221B Baker Street. Or should I say th...
Continue Reading »

Brad Pitt: I knew him well. (Okay, that’s a lie. But I did know him!)

Image
I only worked on a couple of movies during my short-lived career as a production coordinator. By a couple, I mean two. Literally two. The Favor was one of those movies, a film most of you will have never heard of even though it starred Elizabeth McGovern, Bill Pullman and Brad Pitt.  Brad Pitt was just a beautiful young man back then, only twenty four, with the beginnings of a resume; some small parts in episodic tv, nothing noteworthy. The director cast him based on some footage his agent had sent from LA up to our location production office in downtown Portland. It was from the as yet unreleased Thelma & Louise ; my boss had seen the video clip and trilled that he was delicious. And we all knew that instead of flying up from LA, he’d driven up in the cutest little sports car with Juliette Lewis by his side.  Brad played Elliot, an artist and Elizabeth McGovern's love interest, Emily, who runs an art gallery. The film is called  The Favor  because Emil...
Continue Reading »